HONG KONG (December 31): Hong Kong Public Servants have become hot commodities in the dating market as mainland Chinese opt for a partner with access to the Special Administrative Region’s ‘iron rice bowl’.
The trend, which has been flying under the radar for some time, surfaced with the story of a 33-year-old woman from Jiangsu Province in eastern China who was seeking a Public Servant from Hong Kong with the benefits of a good salary and excellent living and education benefits.
The head of the dating agency where the woman first posted, Tiffany Chan said most of her clients came from the mainland and had specific criteria for their partners, including matching education, income and family background.
“Civil Servants are particularly popular due to their perceived stability and benefits. My clients prefer dating agencies to apps due to privacy concerns,” Ms Chan said.
With the re-opening of the border between the mainland and Hong Kong as pandemic restrictions eased, Ms Chan expected to see a further increase in demand for cross-border nuptials.
Many mainland bloggers also portray the Hong Kong Public Service as a promising career choice.
One of the most regular bloggers shared how he had passed the recruitment examination for the Hong Kong Public Service stating “the end of the universe is the civil service exam”.
This expression is widely used to express Chinese young people’s desire to work for the Government and secure a job for life, or what is colloquially known as the ‘iron rice bowl’.
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Sacked UK official’s orthodoxy rewarded
LONDON (January 1): The top United Kingdom Treasury official sacked by former Prime Minister, Liz Truss for “economic orthodoxy” has been given an award in the country’s New Year’s Honours list.
Sir Tom Scholar, who served as Permanent Secretary in the Treasury from 2016 until September 2022, has received Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath, an award given to members of the UK military or Public Service for exemplary service.
Sir Tom’s sacking, just two days after Ms Truss became Prime Minister, was seen as symbolic of her radical approach to economic policy and was criticised in some quarters for depriving the Treasury of institutional memory.
Former Chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng’s subsequent ‘mini-Budget’, during which he unveiled large tax cuts without explaining how they would be paid for, triggered turmoil in the markets. Ms Truss later resigned, just 44 days after entering Downing Street.
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PS pay row barrier to Yemeni peace
SANAA (January 2): A dispute over Public Service pay is holding up resolution of Yemen’s civil war which has so far caused 377,000 deaths, displaced four million people and forced 15.6 million into extreme poverty.
Iran-backed Houthi rebels say the matter must be resolved with the internationally recognised Government before they can agree to a permanent ceasefire.
The Houthis have been pushing the Yemeni Government to pay salaries according to a 2022 payroll that contains employees working for Houthi-run State institutions.
The Government has so far responded that it would only make payments to those Public Servants that were on the payroll in 2014 — the year the civil war began.
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PM lashes ‘stubborn bribe-takers’
KUALA LUMPUR (January 1): Malaysian Prime Minister, Anwar Ibrahim has lashed out at a small number of Public Servants who he says “stubbornly refuse to stop soliciting for and accepting bribes”.
“Corruption must be stopped in its tracks. I will not hesitate to take action against this small number of Public Servants as their action tarnishes the Government's image,” Datuk Seri Anwar said.
He said he would also not allow any negligent action from Public Servants and Cabinet Ministers “that would lead to the destruction of the nation”.
"This is a great slander against Public Servants who have changed their ways. I hope there will be repentance and change or stern action will be taken,” the Prime Minister said.
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Finns back public broadcaster
HELSINKI (January 2); Finns have overwhelmingly supported public broadcaster, YLE with 92 per cent of respondents to a survey saying it had met its obligations very well, well, or relatively well.
This represented an improvement of two percentage points from the 2021 survey.
YLE was lauded particularly for providing domestically-produced content in the mother tongue of the respondents and for making its contents and services readily accessible.
The public broadcaster was also assessed to have succeeded in providing information during crises, servicing special groups and language minorities, and providing reliable information.
The full International PS News service will resume on January 17
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